Commercial aircraft for passenger transport usually comprise high-lift systems, which are able to drastically increase the lift of the respective aircraft, such that relatively low flight velocities are necessary during start and landing phases. However, high lift systems usually comprise one or more flow bodies that can be extended relative to a wing structure in order to increase the camber and active surface of the wing, but may also lead to an increased noise.
For meeting more and more stringent noise constraints, it is a constant desire to optimize the aero-acoustic profile of an aircraft. This is especially the case for congested air spaces in Europe and the United States of America, where a lower noise profile may be an enabler for early and late time slots, respectively, for landing and take-off. This may be realized inter alia by an active gap control for leading edge slats, which are able to adjust the gap size between a trailing edge of a leading edge slat and a wing structure, relative to which the leading edge slat is movably supported.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,383,044 shows a rotatable/tiltable trailing edge of a slat.
WO 2008/084260 A1 and WO2009/150446 A1 disclose a kinematic solution for an independent slat edge actuation.
In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.